As it turned out, though, the electric iron was not quite the unalloyed blessing it first appeared to be. By making ironing "easier," the new appliance ended up producing a change in the prevailing social expectations about clothing. To appear respectable, men's and women's blouses and trousers had to be more frequently and meticulously pressed than was considered necessary before. Wrinkles became a sign of sloth. Even children's school clothes were expected to be neatly ironed. While women didn't have to work as hard to do their ironing, they had to do more of it, more often, and with more precision.
... As other electric appliances flooded the home through the first half of the century - washing machines, vacuum cleaners, sewing machines, toasters, coffee-makers, egg beaters, hair curlers, and, somewhat later, refrigerators, dishwashers, and clothes dryers - similar changes in social norms played out. Clothes had to be changed more frequently, rugs had to be cleaner, curls in hair had to be bouncier, meals had to be more elaborate, and the household china had to be more plentiful and gleam more brightly. Tasks that once had been done every few months now had to be performed every few days. When rugs had had to be carried outside to be cleaned, for instance, the job was done only a couple of times of year. With a vacuum cleaner handy, it became a weekly or even a daily ritual.
Excerpted from: The Big Switch: Rewiring the world, from Edison to Google, p. 99
